Silver Linings

Perception

Arnav and Akash were in the latter's room, Akash was seated on his bed, while Arnav was pacing up and down... "mujhe sach mei samaj nahi aare ke aisa kaun karsakta hai Bhai... I mean.. business mei aap ke kai saare rivals hai... but iss hadd tak girne wale koi nai hai na Bhai" (I really don't understand who would do something like this Bhai.. I mean.. You have rivals in business.. but no body would stoop to this level) Arnav silently listened to Akash... What Akash said also made sense.. but... "Akash... no one has any personal grudges with me... mei itne closely kisise bhi move nahi karta..." (I don't move so closely with anyone) Akash nodded his head "so the business rivals are the only viable suspects at this point"

The two of them were silent for a few minutes... "We have to tell them Akash..." Akash looked at his brother surprised "Are you sure Bhai?" Arnav gave a curt nod.. "yes... otherwise I wont be able to convince them to stay in the house" Akash nodded his head "Yeh bhi sahi hai... especially Ma and Di..." (That is also true) Arnav just made a sound indicating his agreement with Akash's statement. There was a knock on the door, Akash went and opened the door, it was JaiPrakash calling them down for dinner. 

The two of them joined the family for dinner, which went by silently, surprisingly no one was interested in communicating too much tonight, which served well for Arnav, as his mind was preoccupied already, he wasn't in a mood to really engage in any other conversations.

When everyone was done, Arnav cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.. "Mei aap sab se ek baat share karna chahta hu..." (I want to share something with all of you) he looked at each one's face "and I want you'll to listen carefully.. without interrupting me in between, please." He saw everyone look a little confused but they all agreed. "Di ki accident ke baare mei mujhe kuch doubts the... tho meine police ko inform kiya tha.. and they have been investigating it..." (I had some doubts regarding Di's accident, so I informed the police) he stopped to see if everyone was following, "Aaj woh inspector ne mujhe phone kiya tha.. aur unhi se milne mei bahar gaya tha subah" (The inspector phoned me today, and it was him I had gone out to meet in the morning)

He paused to take a breath... "Ghadi ke brake wires ko kisine jaan bhujke kaata hai" (someone has purposely cut the brake wires) there were audible gasps from everyone. "Abhi tak Police ko yeh nai pata ke kaun kiya hai.. but they are investigating it... they suspect ke mera koi business rival ka kaam hoga... so jab tak hume yeh nai pata chalta ke kaun hai iske peeche... I want you all to avoid any unnecessary trips out of the house. Aur agar kisi kaam unavoidable hai.. tho mei leke jaunga.." (Till now the police have no idea who is the culprit... but they are investigating it... they suspect that it must be the work of any one of my business rival... so until we don't find out who is behind this... I want you all to avoid any unnecessary trips out of the house... and if something is unavoidable... I will accompany you)

He let his words sink in... there was shock and fear on everyone's face.. no one was able to speak for a few minutes. "Kisine jaan bhujke kiya tha?" (Someone did it on purpose?) Anjali couldn't believe there were such horrible people in the world. Her eyes were filled with fearful tears... she had been in the car... if it wasn't for the driver, who screamed for her to jump out, she would have been fatally wounded. Manorama rubbed Anjali's arms in an effort to calm her down

"Par Arnav bitwa... oo gaadi tho hum ghar waale istemaal karte hai na.. aap oo gaadi kabhi nai lete..." (But Arnav... only the family uses that car... you never take that car) Devyani's words made everyone think. She was right.. It didn't make sense... if it was a business rival, wouldn't they have vandalised the SUV which was Arnav's vehicle of choice at any given day... why would they have targeted a car that Arnav never uses... Arnav and Akash looked at each other... they hadn't thought about this detail...